Death Rides A Horse: Tree of Woe

Heavy/Stoner/Doom Metal

3.5/5.0

In preparation for a full-length debut later this year, Inferno bundles Denmark's Death Rides a Horse's two EPs into Tree of Woe, with some bonus tracks and an unreleased song. It's nearly sixty minutes of old school heavy metal with stoner and doom tones.

Death Rides A Horse:: death and the horse were unavailable.

Listening to Tree of Woe, it's obvious the band was not seeking to reinvent the wheel. Taking cues from peers like early Black Sabbath to early Nineties Crowbar to more recent High On Fire, DRaH bring heavy riffs and strong grooves to their music without sacrificing melody and harmony. A song like the opener For Those About to Die offer that lumbering stoner side. Later, in contrast, Beyond and Pantokrater become speedier, even livelier, metal works. The latter song, however, also puts on the brakes past the midpoint to bring back a doomish feel. This tone becomes in more evident in the cover of the Scorpions Fly to the Rainbow. It's quite heavy and plodding, and may not win over Scorpions fans. However, it's also a good example of the strong lead guitar work throughout this album. The greatest draw back to the album is with the vocals. It's not that Ida Marcussen doesn't do well; she can sing metal and sings clean. It's the mix that's the problem: she often sounds muted or muffled. Otherwise, if you like your metal heavier, more classic and traditional, with nods to the stoner and doom side of things, yet still melodic, you'll like Death Rides a Horse's Tree of Woe.

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